


whisper of the woods

by kleine_waldfee



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Exorcisms, Fluff, M/M, Nature, inspired by mdzs/the untamed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-22 11:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22215364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kleine_waldfee/pseuds/kleine_waldfee
Summary: Seonghwa's peaceful walk through the forest is interrupted by Yeosang, whose clan is in dire need of help.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	whisper of the woods

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello guess who's finally rebranding after living with a horrendous username like whippedt_cream for years! 
> 
> yes officer the title is stolen from the untamed ost

The forest was so calm. Seonghwa kept walking along the path that seemed like it hadn't been frequented in a while. Fern brushed his fingertips, an everlasting luscious green. The scent of moss and firs filled his nose, heavy and full. It was satisfying to listen to the fallen needles of the trees crunch beneath his feet; it reminded him of his childhood, when he had more time to play in the woods surrounding his village. It had been so long since he'd just gone for a peaceful walk. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the way the sunlight filtering through the twigs warmed his cheeks. 

Most would have described the silence in the woods as eerie, making them uneasy, but that wasn't how Seonghwa felt. The quiet made his heart feel calm — it almost equalled some type of meditation. The only noise Seonghwa could make out with his eyes closed was the chirping of the birds, and the distant hammering of a woodpecker.

As he listened closely, though, he noticed that something was disturbing the peace. Sounded like an animal in distress, trampling through the forest. Soon, the noise was accompanied by the sounds of heavy breathing. Definitely not an animal, Seonghwa noted as a human staggered into his view. A young man, dressed in blinding white clothing. 

"Help," he gasped once his wild gaze focused on Seonghwa. "I'm looking for help!" The man stumbled over a branch, falling to his knees and catching himself on his hands. 

Without hesitation, Seonghwa rushed over to kneel down beside him. "Are you alright?"

The man grasped his forearm tightly as Seonghwa helped him get up. "I need help," he simply repeated once he was upright again, seemingly speaking as though he was on autopilot, only one thing on his mind. He was still out of breath and looking exhausted, fingers still digging into Seonghwa's arm. He was so distressed, he apparently didn't even notice who he was speaking to. Just what had happened to put him in such a state of mind?

"What happened?" Seonghwa asked when he realized that this was most likely the only question his dear friend was going to reply to. 

"We were exorcising an evil spirit. Just when we thought it was gone and banished, it came back, bringing even more spirits with it. Half of my clan is possessed!" Yeosang shouted the last part, obviously distraught by the previous events. 

His clan, Seonghwa thought. The flawless white robe with light blue and silver embroidery lining the seams and the white headband with a shiny star constellation in the middle were a dead giveaway to anyone who had basic knowledge on the cultivation world. People from Snowfall City were dressed like that. 

"Yeosang, look at me." Seonghwa spoke softly.

His eyes found Seonghwa's, brows furrowed together in confusion as to why this random person in the forest knew his name. He blinked at Seonghwa until the picture in front of him wasn't just a blur of his own emotions. Recognition flashed over his face. "Seonghwa! Good thing it's you, you'll help me, right?"

"Of course," Seonghwa said, "I'm just going to send a message to my clan as well." After he had finished talking, Seonghwa pulled a talisman out of the small pouch that was fastened on his belt and sent a fire message to his village. They would know what to do and come after them. Under different circumstances, Seonghwa would have suggested to wait for backup, but this case seemed urgent. He had sworn to help and protect those who needed it and he truly lived by those words.

"Can you lead the way?" Seonghwa inquired. In reality, he knew the way to the city. Both of them knew this. Also, it's not like the portal in the woods was a secret, after all. What he actually wanted to know was whether Yeosang was still fit enough to come with him. 

"Of course," Yeosang replied and now that he knew he was getting help, he didn't even look like he was about to pass out anymore. What a relief. 

Seonghwa followed Yeosang through the forest, surprised that the man could still run so fast despite his obvious exhaustion. Soon enough, they arrived at a huge wall of stone. Someone had been smart enough to carve a stairwell into the dark rock generations ago. They hurried up the stairs, taking two at a time, moss and ivy lining their path. It had rained the day before, but fortunately the stone wasn't wet and slippery anymore. 

Once they had arrived at the top, they continued making their way through a maze of rocks, following a path that would take Seonghwa longer to find had he been on his own. He was aware that Yeosang knew this area well and therefore lead them without any hesitation. 

Soon, they arrived at a waterfall. The massive body of water that fell down into a rocky abyss sounded like vicious thunders. Even from a distance, Seonghwa could feel water sprinkle his face. There was a trunk of a tree connecting one side of the ravine to the other. When he stepped closer, Seonghwa could see that the water hitting the river below looked like foam. He swallowed. 

Yeosang seemed to notice his hesitation. "Don't look down," he said with a steady voice, as he always did because he knew of Seonghwa's fear of heights. Then, he started running towards the trunk and crossed it, looking straight ahead. Seonghwa did not want to fall behind — there was something for him to do, after all. He took a deep breath and determinedly stared ahead as he followed Yeosang. It was as if his feet were carried by an invisible force. He was sure that if he hadn't followed Yeosang's advice to not look down, he would have slipped and fallen into the wild waves, but he didn't dwell on the thought.

After he had arrived safely on the other side, they walked into the small cave that was hidden behind a curtain of ivory. Stepping into the cave always made the hairs on Seonghwa's neck stand. The place was filled with so much magic that the air seemed electric. 

He looked straight ahead, at the light blue mass of energy covering the stone and mentally steeled himself for walking through the portal. Seonghwa could feel Yeosang's eyes on him and looked at him. Yeosang looked indifferent, but Seonghwa knew he was waiting for a sign to continue, so Seonghwa nodded. Unpromptedly, and perhaps a bit surprisingly, Yeosang grabbed Seonghwa's hand and together, they stepped through the portal. 

Seonghwa didn't think he'd ever be able to get used to this kind of experience. It felt like the world was tilted upside down and there was a pressure behind his temples, but the nausea only lasted for a couple of seconds. When he opened his eyes, he was standing before the main entrance of Snowfall City. 

It was considerably colder here, true to the city's name. Fortunately, it wasn't snowing at the moment, but Seonghwa noticed some snow covering the trees and took a second to admire the typical blue flowers that bloomed despite the cold. Yeosang let go of Seonghwa's hand and looked straight ahead with a worried expression. 

"Where are they?" Seonghwa asked cautiously. It was eerily quiet. 

"Probably at the Hall of Darkness." 

Right, Seonghwa thought. It was only logical that they'd try to lead the evil spirits — the possessed people — there. Executing a mass exorcism was considerably easier when everyone concerned was gathered in one place. 

On their way to the Hall of Darkness, a handful of seemingly possessed people crossed their path. Thankfully, Seonghwa saw them before they could make out the two men and attack them. Seonghwa pulled on Yeosang's sleeve and dragged him into the nearest building, which happened to be a stable. 

Lucky for Seonghwa it was a horse stable. The smell of horses was bearable, to some extent even nice, but he wouldn't have been able to deal with the stench of cows or pigs at that moment. 

While Yeosang looked outside of the stable through the slit between the two wings of the gate, Seonghwa got distracted by a horse blowing its breath into his neck. Surprised, he turned around to face the animal. It was a wonderful horse, black as the night and he recognized it immediately. Smiling, Seonghwa whispered, "Have you missed me? Is Yeosang not treating you well?" 

Yeosang turned to glare at him and Seonghwa innocently petted the horse's head. After a while, Yeosang declared, "We can go out now, they're not on the street anymore."

Again, they went onto the street and in the direction of the hall. This time, they didn't have any run-ins with possessed people, but when Yeosang pushed the heavy door of the hall open, Seonghwa's heartbeat faltered from the sheer shock the scene he witnessed caused him. There were a lot of people inside, many of them wounded. Their otherwise flawless white robes were stained with blood. 

The ones who were still standing were desperately trying to fight off the possessed. They all appeared to be pretty young, disciples of the clan. In fact, he couldn't see any of the elders.

Apparently Yeosang could read the question on his face, which didn't really surprise Seonghwa because he was used to Yeosang's perceptive nature. Yeosang explained, "The elders are at a meeting in the Aurora Realm."

Of course, Seonghwa thought. There was no way the highly qualified cultivators of Snowfall City would cower before possessed souls had they been there. They were known for their excellent skills, after all. 

Not hesitating any longer, Seonghwa reached for the flute tucked into his belt. Using a sword would be useless in this case. Wordlessly, he held the flute to his lips and looked at Yeosang, who gave a nod in return and rushed to the zither which was placed at the other side of the hall. 

Seonghwa started playing a soothing melody, fingers moving in practiced, fluid motions. Shortly after, Yeosang joined in, the sounds of the zither mingling perfectly with those of the flute. 

Only now did the evil spirits notice them. They were obviously dissatisfied with Yeosang and Seonghwa's attempts to exorcise them and tried to walk towards them. However, the disciples of the Kang clan kept fending them off, keeping them at bay so that the two more experienced cultivators could continue their symphonious display. 

Seonghwa noticed that the disciples were struggling to hold the possessed people of their sect back without seriously injuring them. He thought that it must be incredibly hard, having no choice but to fight against your own. 

Soon, the bodies of the affected people started convulsing. Their extremities began shaking and taking on somewhat unnatural angles. If you looked at their faces, you could see that their eyeballs were rolling back in their heads until only the white was visible. Seonghwa noticed that one of them bit his tongue so hard that blood started oozing out of his mouth. 

Suddenly, Seonghwa felt a sharp pain in his back. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that one of the possessed people had apparently managed to break away from the rest of the disciples, and had stabbed him with the sword he was carrying. 

Seonghwa stepped away from the convulsing person, hoping that they wouldn't come after him again. He was lucky because in that moment, all the affected clan members fell to the ground, vomiting a black substance that sizzled once it hit the floor. He managed to ignore the pain and the disgusting wet feeling that spread on his clothes until the song was finished and the spirits had successfully been exorcised. 

Once the last note had faded, he removed the flute from his lips and gave a victorious smile in Yeosang's direction. However, Yeosang's figure seemed blurry all of the sudden and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was that a figure dressed in white was rushing towards him with a worried frown upon their elegant face.

*

When Seonghwa woke up again, he had to close his eyes several times to get rid of his blurry vision. There was a pounding behind his temples, but he attempted to ignore that for the time being. Once his vision had finally cleared, he took in the room he was in. It was clean and neatly organized, no object was out of place or unnecessary. Immaculate. How typical of Yeosang. Automatically, the corners of Seonghwa's mouth lifted. 

Suddenly, he noticed the weight on the bed he had been sleeping on shift. Odd, he hadn't moved. Seonghwa glanced down and immediately saw the cause of the unexpected movement. 

Yeosang was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, facing the low bed. His upper body was folded forward, face buried in the mattress beside Seonghwa's leg. One of his arms was resting on the bed, the other was uselessly hanging to the side. 

Seongwha's heart ached when he saw this. Sleeping in this position surely wasn't comfortable and if he had fallen asleep like this it was probably because he had spent every waking second taking care of Seonghwa and staying by his side. 

Carefully, Seonghwa sat up. He felt a little bit stiff, probably from lying in a bed for a good amount of time, but other than that and the slight headache he felt fine. He touched his back gingerly. There was barely any pain anymore, so he guessed that his wound had almost completely healed. One of the perks of being a cultivator was that their bodies healed much faster than those of average people. 

When he was upright, he reached out and carefully shook Yeosang awake. The man made a surprised noise when his eyes fluttered open. Finally realizing what he was looking at, he lifted his head and asked, "Are you alright? Does anything hurt?" 

Looking at him like this, Seonghwa noticed the worry in his voice and his tired eyes. "Yeosang," he tried to say with a soothing voice, but he ended up sounding a little bit raspy. He quickly cleared his throat before he continued speaking, "I'm fine, stop worrying."

The tension seemed to leave Yeosang's body. He was visibly relieved to see that Seonghwa was doing fine. Still, he asked, "Do you need anything?"

Seonghwa skillfully ignored his question because he didn't think he needed anything at the moment, and replied with a question of his own. "Yeosang, how long have you been sitting there?"

He seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds. "I think it's been two days."

Sighing, Seonghwa grabbed his hand and tugged Yeosang towards him. "Come on, lie down with me. You look exhausted." Yeosang gave him an unimpressed look, so Seonghwa decided to use his biggest weapon. Giving the most convincing puppy eyes, he added, "You asked if I needed anything. I need you by my side."

Immediately, Yeosang's eyes softened and he sighed as he gave in to Seonghwa's request. Seonghwa scooted over to make some space for Yeosang as he also slipped under the blanket. Despite his earlier inhibition, Yeosang didn't hesitate to use the opportunity to wrap his arms around Seonghwa and cuddle close to him. 

"What happened after I passed out?" Seonghwa asked and began petting Yeosang's hair. 

With a sleepy voice, Yeosang answered, "Your clan arrived soon after the exorcism. They were really helpful, helped us clean everything up and treat the injured members of my clan. After everything was done, they went home again. And you... Well, you were passed out, so they let you stay here to recover. After all, they knew I was going to take care of you."

Seonghwa hummed and said, "How right they were. I'm in such good hands." He then pressed a kiss to Yeosang's forehead and added, "Thank you for taking care of me. I appreciate it."

Yeosang simply buried his head further into Seonghwa's chest — to hide a blush, Seonghwa presumed — and murmured, "I'd do it again."

After a while, Yeosang's breath evened out and Seonghwa also closed his eyes. With Yeosang by his side, he felt like nothing could ever go wrong. In his arms he would always be safe. He buried his nose in Yeosang's hair, inhaling his familiar scent, and fell asleep with a full heart.


End file.
